In the late sixteen hundreds, the mania of the Salem witch trials affected various families and individuals. In order for such terrible events to take place, an array of people catalyzed the trials. In Arthur Miller’s theatrical work The Crucible, Miller creates a specific group of young girls who accuses countless amount of men and women of witchcraft. Abigail, the leader of the girls, testifies in many of the executions taken place by lying about the people’s collaboration with the devil. As one of the antagonists of the story, she intends to kill Elizabeth, the wife of her paramour, John Proctor. The Crucible exemplifies a “fall” story through Abigail because her jealousy begets her own demise.
To begin, Abigail’s obsession with John leads
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In court, John finally admits to committing adultery with Abigail and an uproar inundates the courtroom. With the judge demanding she answer the questions, Abigail proclaims, “If I must answer that, I will leave and I will not come back again!” (111). Perceiving her imminent judgment, Abigail attempts to flee. When her plans start to derail, Abigail disregards her staunch feelings for John and seeks an effective solution for her problem. On the day of John’s execution, Abigail’s uncle, Mr. Parris, discovers some alarming news about her. When Parris announces, “My niece, sir, my niece—I believe she has vanished” (126), the judge and countless people become infuriated by her actions. Despite all of the scheming and planning, Abigail disappears from Salem with nothing more than a broken heart and a bitter spirit.
Overall, Abigail’s jealousy engenders her own failure, which characterizes The Crucible as a “fall” story. Abigail embodies a determined yet devious personality, and as a result, she succumbs to the evil within her own self. Even after John rejects her, she continues to do anything so that she may have John to herself. In James 3:16, the author states, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” The monster of jealousy cannot be controlled by anyone, which provides an incentive to stay away from the temptation to covet others for what they
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a fictionalized play that portrays Massachusetts Salem witch trials in 1962. The Crucible play is about a hand full of girls, including Abigail Williams, accused whom they despised of witchcraft. Throughout the entire play, Abigail William was the most corrupted because she was a compulsive liar, accused people of witchcraft, and committed adultery John Proctor. Abigail is a compulsive liar throughout the play.
Arthur Miller, in The Crucible, was a play that took place in 1692, about the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Williams lust towards the girls, and john Proctor, are some of the contributing factors of the witch trials in Salem Massachusetts. Abigail is a malicious and spiteful gal who always wants her way, no matter what or who she puts in danger. Throughout the play, her allegations and lies cause many people pain and sorrow, but if it wasn’t John Proctor, she didn’t care whose life it was that she was putting in risk. Abbigail had an affair with proctor seven months before the the play even began.
The Crucible reflects the compelling power that fear holds on people and the erratic behaviours that it drives people to perform, and forces them to believe that they must forfeit their humanity by turning against their fellow people to ensure themselves of a false sense of security. After John Proctor, who is a man that holds a high status in society and is well-respected begins having an affair with the familys teenage servant Abigail Williams, they both begin to illustrate rampant hysteria. Despite the misogynistic system of the village, Abigail is a dominant accuser of witchcraft in Salem who begins to go around accusing many people of witchcraft which results in many innocent deaths. Abigail holds a manipulative and power-hungry nature which causes her to perform reckless actions to destory the lives of others, which begins with her affair with John Proctor that enables her to hold power over him. However, there is a main inconsistency throughout the play which is the fact that John names himself, and acts as a honest man but he begins an ongoing affair with Abigail.
In "The Crucible”, by Arthur Miller, the author effectively employs Reverend Parris’s interrogation of Abigail to develop the theme of hysteria and fear in the play, intensively questioning Abigail on witchcraft and her related activities. Miller uses excessive efforts in his writing in order to shut down his fear of the devil, creating a tense atmosphere throughout the scene. Enriching the passage with its presence, the irony finds its place within the depths of “The Crucible'' as Miller skillfully employs this technique to create a compelling contrast between what the reader knows and what the characters in the story are unaware of. The audience possesses a privileged understanding of the girls’ illicit activities in the woods, clandestine
John outraged, screams at Elizabeth to not “judge me more, Elizabeth. I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail, and I will think on it” (Miller 57). John knows that if he goes to the court that Abigail will ruin his reputation and tell everyone how he disobeyed one of the commandments and committed adultery. John ends up refusing to tell the court as he can not bear the thought of being seen differently. When Elizabeth is accused of witchcraft, John finally decides to ruin his reputation, as it is worth saving his wife.
During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws: lust, vengeance, and jealously that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch hunts in Salem. Abigail Williams started the entire suspicion of there being active member of witchcraft throughout Salem, Massachusetts. She did this for her own benefits and used trickery to get what she wanted. Abigail was corrupt and only cared for her own desires. There are many reasons that these flaws are crucial to the outcome of the play.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.
In a small village called Salem, witchcraft and sorcery exist, however everyone is pointing fingers but not a single soul knows who is actually to blame for this nonsense. During this time period of hysteria, there are multiple scenes that are very questionable due to one person and one person only. Abigail is the one most responsible for the hysteria and witchcraft in Salem. She threatens the group of girls that accompanied her in the woods while they all danced. She has also lied about many things on multiple occasions in which causes an extreme amount of suspicion.
Arthur Miller’s portrayal of a town in the midst of a downfall “The Crucible”, tells the story of how mob mentality and hysteria can significantly influence not only individuals but the whole town. This mob mentality leads to unthoughtful acts and false accusations. Two characters who demonstrate how mob mentality can lead to the demise of Salem are Abigail and Mary Warren. As Abigail begins to be accused she is pressured to deter from the truth. While Mary Warren gets pressured by Proctor to reveal the truth about Abigail, but the overwhelming pressure from the mob makes her turn from the truth.
Adolescent minds are the most intelligent kind of mind. A young brain is filled with creativity, imagination and innocence. Though the thought process of a teen is assumed to be selfish there are other factors involved. A combination of these characteristics seems almost dangerous. One would undermine a juvenile to use these qualities to manipulate the court for their own selfish wishes or pleasures.
In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail and her friends participate in activities that, in their society, are associated with devil worship and aren’t looked upon favorably, such as singing, dancing and being naked. In an attempt to avoid punishment, the girls cruelly tell the townspeople that other residents of the town, people that the girls didn’t particularly like, were possessed and forced the girls to dance for the devil. After his wife is accused, John Proctor is faced with the decision to tell the truth in order to free his wife from persecution or keep quiet for Abigail who he had an affair with. The author of this play, Arthur Miller, displays cruelty through Abigail’s accusations of innocent people During the Salem Witch
Abigail Williams was the goody two shoes that kept her reputation high, until she turned on many with a single lie. In The Crucible By Arthur Miller, is set in the year of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts where a witch outbreak has jailed many of the women from a fault of one girl named Abigail. It causes havoc in Salem that will lead to death in the village. Abigail has shown many transformations and showed that she is very dynamic from her emotions, to her actions, and to her experiences throughout the story of The Crucible. Abigail has shown that she has grown mentally and emotionally.
Abigail William’s age was raised in order to make the romantic relationship between John Proctor and Abigail practical. Similarly, John’s age was lowered to add to the emotional effect of his death. On the other hand, Reverend Samuel Parris’s character was not altered because the historical Parris already embodied the characteristics that Miller desired for the story. Overall, the changes Miller made to the characters helped to shape The Crucible and allowed the reader connect to its historically-based
A major theme in The Crucible is the deception of falsehood and honesty. A character that is a prime example is Abigail Williams. Through the book Abigail shows several layers of lies and deception to protect herself. Abigail has a rather tough life because both of her parents died when she was young and ever since she has worked as a servant in several households. Abigail has a strong hold on several people throughout the story which is why she has so much power over the town of Salem.